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NEWS: BBC to put 81 years of programming online

After the huge success of the iPlayer, the BBC has confirmed plans to make every episode of every single programme ever broadcast on the BBC, available to view online.

The content will be available either via the iPlayer, via commercial platform Kangaroo – an on-demand service being developed with ITV and Channel 4 – , or via a new online archive.

The ambitious project was outlined by Jana Bennett, the director of BBC Vision, at the Banff television festival in Canada.

She said: "Eventually we will add our programme back catalogue to produce pages for programming stretching back over nearly 80 years - featuring all the information we have on the richest TV and radio archive in the world."

Simon Nelson, who is overseeing the project, said: "These permanent pages will always direct the audience to the programme - wherever it may be on the web - first in iPlayer, then elsewhere on bbc.co.uk, or on iTunes, or on any number of other on-demand services including Kangaroo."

"Each page and clip will be promotional for that programme in perpetuity. They will offer the possibility of hits that go on and on - or are rediscovered when the time is right."

The project would be delivered within the existing budget of its digital arm, so shouldn't hopefully cause any further overspend... As a footnote, it was announced that more than 90 million programmes have been streamed or downloaded using the iPlayer since its inception.